Behind the Book Reading Series

As part of our effort to raise our public profile, this fall we're starting a reading series. Both authors who participate in our programs and author-friends of Behind the Book will read. Our goal is to become a more visible presence in NYC, garner some press, and raise some cash from pre- or post-reading donations. Thus far, A.M. Homes, Adam Rapp, Jonathan Ames, and Ned Vizzini have agreed to read this fall.

Come hear wunderkinds Nick McDonell and Ned Vizzini read from their latest books, The Third Brother and It's Kind of a Funny Story (forthcoming, April 2006), respectively.

When: Thursday, January 12, 2006, from 7:00-9:00pm
Where: KGB Bar, 85 E 4th Street;
(between Second and Third Aves.; take the F/V to Second Ave. or the No. 6 to Astor Place
Contact: www.kgbbar.com or 212-505-3360
Admission free.

RSVP (Optional) to readingseries@behindthebook.org.

WHO:
Nick McDonell is the author of Twelve (Grove/Atlantic Press), published in 2002 when he was seventeen years old. In September 2005, his second novel, The Third Brother (Grove/Atlantic Press), was released. Now twenty-one, Nick is in his senior year at Harvard.

Ned Vizzini began writing for New York Press at the age of fifteen. At seventeen he was asked to write a piece for New York Times Magazine, which led to the publication Teen Angst? Naaah.... (Free Spirit Publishing / Random House), when he was nineteen. His next book, Be More Chill (Hyperion / Miramax Books), was chosen by Judy Blume as a Today Show Book Club selection. Ned's work has received awards from New York is Book Country, BookSense, and the New York Public Library. Ned's new book, It's Kind of a Funny Story, is slated for publication in spring 2006. Now 24, Ned lives in Brooklyn.

REVIEWS: Nick McDonell

For Twelve:
Mr. McDonell finds an authentic voice. . . . He gives us a palpable sense of the privileged but spiritually desolate world that his characters inhabit, without ever condescending to them, and he gives us some digitally clear snapshots of life in the upscale ZIP codes of millenial Manhattan.
— Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

In Twelve, Nick McDonell displays a remarkable arsenal of gifts -- wit, near poetic concision, a terrific eye and ear -- all of which add up to the Great Gift: the ability to tell a story, in such a way, that once engaged, the reader will find it near impossible to put the book down.
— Richard Price

Nick McDonell is the real thing, a powerful young writer with the look of a dangerous freak and very sharp teeth. The ratio of age to talent is horrifying. His trick is he writes the truth. I'm afraid he will do for his generation what I did for mine.
— Hunter S. Thompson

An astonishing rush of a first novel, all heat and ice and inexorable narrative drive -- the kind of novel you finish and immediately read again, just to see how it works. And it does work -- a pleasure to read, a horror to contemplate, a real achievement.
— Joan Didion

For The Third Brother:
Mr. McDonell writes best about the precise dynamics of class, loneliness and spiritual decay.
— Janet Maslin, The New York Times

McDonell, who at 17 made a splash with his debut, Twelve (2002), delivers an assured and heartfelt second….Engrossing, with indelible scenes and a protagonist to care about.
— Kirkus Review

After receiving a tremendous amount of attention for his first novel, Twelve, which he wrote at the tender age of 17, McDonell, now 21, has followed it with a more meditative effort that reflects a more sophisticated, experienced outlook on life….McDonell's prodigious talent is without question, and his current development is evident throughout this work.
— Library Journal

REVIEWS: Ned Vizzini

For Be More Chill:
Vizzini, who made waves as the nineteen-year-old author of Teen Angst? Naaah (Free Spirit 2000), presents a sharp, funny satire of contemporary adolescence.
— Walter Hogan, VOYA

Vizzini, the talented young author of the funny memoir Teen Angst? Naaah... is now 22; his observations on teen life and his sarcastic sense of humor remain razor-sharp. The dialogue is witty…and believable.
— Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT

A fresh, spontaneous and original voice. It's fun, wacky, outrageous. I just couldn't stop reading.
— Judy Blume

As a two-time survivor of high school (once as a student and once as a teacher), I know how hard it is to write about adolescence. But Ned Vizzini gets it right-- the lingo, the rigid caste system, the minutiae of teen courtship rituals. Be More Chill shows that high school can be a hero's journey, a treacherous march through minefields of bullies, drugs, and unfairly complicated bra straps. A smart, funny book that shies away from sentimentality and cliché, Be More Chill handles powerful themes with a light touch.
— David Benioff, author, The 25th Hour

Be More Chill is a sharp social commentary disguised as a high school sex (or no sex, in our hero's case) comedy. I was thoroughly entertained by Vizzini's clever take on the insanity (and inanity) of contemporary teendom.
— Megan McCafferty, author, Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings

For Teen Angst? Naah….:
I'm not even particularly fond of kids-more of a dog person-so the fact that I read Teen Angst? is shocking enough. The idea that I enjoyed it and want to share it with other people is a testament to Vizzini's honesty, humor, insight, and ability to write in such a way that crosses age, gender, and any other gaps that are out there. Prepare to laugh, reflect, and reminiscence about your own teen years.
— Julie Smith, Independent Bookseller

This delightful set of short essays was written by a New York City student between the ages of 15 and 18; many of the pieces were previously published in New York Press and The New York Times Magazine….Vizzini has a way with words….”
— Paula Rohrlick, Kliatt

This kid can write! Teen Angst? is zany, tender and hysterically funny.
— Jonathan Ames, author, Wake up, Sir, and The Extra Man

[O]ne of the few truly genuinely funny and unpretentious books I have read in many years.
— Esme Raji Codell, author of Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year and Sahara Special

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